SVT40 trouble extracting

D

diegocn

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
90   0   0
Location
Waterloo, Ontario
I have a new to me SVT-40, 1942, 12 ports muzzle brake.

It fail to extract about 50% of the time. Extractor would tear off the rim on the fired case on gas setting 1.5, leaving the case stuck in the chamber. On gas setting 1.3, bolt simply failed to move back.
Sometimes it would run through one mag flawlessly, but other times it would fail to extract 3~4 out of 5 rounds.

The spent cases that failed to extract has a bit of bulge near the case head on the extractor cut side but no where else. The cases that came out without problem have little bulge. I'm using Chinese copper washed steel case 150gr surplus ammo.

I have cleaned the chamber fluting over and over. Scrubbed it with a 45 cal brush till patch comes out white. I've also disassembled the gas adjustment and made sure everything is clean and not clogged up, and all the holes line up.

I suspected there's some headspace issue. Checking with 303 field gauge (0.074"), the bolt carrier does not close completely to drop the bolt into locking shoulder. With 303 NO-GO gauge (0.072") the bolt will close. I think 54R NO-GO/FIELD gauge is suppose to be 0.072"/0.076" so it'd fail the NO-GO but pass the field gauge check.

Seller on EE said the previous owner told him the rifle runs flawlessly (not blaming the seller as he wrote he never shot the rifle).

It's really a shame because SVT-40 is a really soft shooting rifle that's light and handy. Is there anything I can try to trouble shoot this rifle?
What is involved in re-headspacing the rifle? The locking shoulder seems to be a replaceable part that can be pressed out and replaced. Anyone knows a gunsmith that can deal with this?
 
It’s the ammo I’m betting. Chinese gets stuck more often than not in all my SVTs but Bulgarian cycles without issue. Try another brand, or a box of factory stuff before you throw money at the gun. I only run my Chinese in bolt guns now.
 
Try to get Soviet, Bulgarian or other Eastern bloc ammo before trying anything major.
Post a pic of that bulge, how big is it?
Also with gas system - try to if it moves freely with no carrier and bolt in receiver.
Make sure carrier and bolt move smoothly as well (move them without spring to see if there's any unusual friction)
Any issues cycling snap caps? (At range you can try to cycle live rounds without firing them, but be prepare for situation with live round stuck in chamber).
 
I'll take it out to the range next time and collect some bulged cases.

Where can I buy some non-chinese 54r these days? Everyone seems to be only selling chinese 54r these days.
 
Pick up a box of PPU. If it runs 20 rounds of that then see what else is out there for surplus. I haven’t looked in a while...

I sold three SVTs before I realized it was the ammo... deals were had.

Edit - MFS has worked well for me. No idea how available it is.
 
I’ve had fte with an Svt before, the round fired but the casing was left in the chamber. Extractor tore off a bit of the rim, tapped it out with a cleaning rod. What I did was fully clean the chamber with a copper bush and solvent, then I took a 30cal brush on a length of cleaning rod chucked in a drill and wrapped it with steel wool till it fit tightly in the chamber. Ran the steel wool wrapped brush back and foreth in the chamber while spinning for 10-20 min to remove any burrs or built up laquer or dried up cosmoline.

That solved the fte issue and I never had the problem happen again after the steel wool scrub, make sure you blow out the bore with compressed air and run a patch through it to get any leftover steel wool bits once you’re done.
 
I had one that had this gremlin so bad it bent the piston rod. I had to give up and sell it for parts, ended up breaking even. Parts are hard to come by.
 
Reporting back on this issue.

I picked up some Barnaul 174gr FMJ ammo. Ran like a champ in my SVT. The fired cases didn't have the same bulge as the Chinese surplus.

So I guess it's really an ammo issue. Wonder if the chinese surplus are dimensionally different than the barnaul.
 
Chinese PRC that I have shot in 54r seems to recoil slightly harder than Barnaul or Russian from my M38 rifle (which is the hardest 54r recoiler I own) so I can only assume it is slightly hotter loaded than the other rounds. This could expand the casing somewhat causing friction. I have shot a few rounds from a few SVT40s and I held off after as I didn't want the recoil to crack the front cover or do any damage. It shot just fine though.

Anytime a milsurp gives you trouble strip it and see if it needs a good cleaning and l like Horilka said check that all parts move freely without resistance. Thus far other than a few stove pipes with barnaul at 1.3 gas I found the SVT40 (shot 5 of them a bit) to be very reliable, maybe I got lucky.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom